Riesenbeck, Germany (July 26, 2011) – If you are superstitious you might credit combined driving champion Chester Weber’s fourth winning weekend in Europe to his team’s “four lucky rabbit’s feet.” Team Weber’s companion mascot, a hefty black rabbit named Kainzi, joined them earlier this summer at Altenfelden as a stable mate to Para to help keep the KWPN gelding calm at competitions. It was love at first sniff for Para and Kainzi and word is that the rabbit may have “four lucky feet.”
But it takes more than luck to pull off the clean sweep in the dressage and the safe marathon round that made Team Weber impossible to beat last weekend at the Riesenbeck CAI. It does however seem a bit lucky that for the third time in his career Weber won the prestigious German Fahrderby. And as luck would have it, the win at Riesenbeck catapulted Weber into the number one ranked position for the FEI World Cup standings.
Weber, who seems generally fond of the rabbit, is more likely to credit the support of Jane Clark and chef d’equipe Ed Young for Team Weber’s success. “The additional support of Jane Clark is playing an important role in our success,” said Weber. The Fahrderby win at Riesenbeck is a sweet victory for team Weber. “The derby is an old traditional competition with a history going back over 50 years. There are two additional pair competitions: a pairs show ring class and a pairs dressage test. It is a very thorough test of the quality of the horses’ training,” Weber explained after his record-breaking score of 24 penalty points for an impressive average score of 8.5. Weber added, “It was great to be back in the heat of it in Riesenbeck. I feel that I gained added insight and was thrilled to have the opportunity to drive a course in the same venue as next year’s World Championships that was also designed by the same course designer.”